Vic Alcoa staff win big pay rise

A pay rise for employees of
Alcoa
aluminium smelters in Victoria has taken into account the strong Australian dollar and the possibility of a carbon tax.

The Australian Workers Union (AWU) reached an in-principle agreement for an 11 per cent boost over three years, plus other benefits such as income insurance. Workers will also get a 1 per cent cash bonus.

The pay increases will be lower than deals struck at Alcoa’s West Australian mining and refining operations, which are less exposed to the dollar when exporting aluminium and to the impact of a carbon tax.

After long negotiations that included strikes, West Australian employees agreed to three-year deals with annual pay rises of 5 per cent and improved job classifications.

AWU Victorian secretary
Cesar Melhem
said yesterday that the deal covering the Portland and Point Henry smelters had been recommended but was subject to approval by union members at meetings in early June.

“We looked at the aluminium price, which is going up, but it still doesn’t offset the increase in the Australian dollar and the carbon tax," he said. “We took those issues into account. This is still a good outcome."

AWU members at Portland overwhelmingly supported a secret ballot, which cleared the way for legally protected industrial action if negotiations failed.

However, there is no negotiating breakthrough in sight at the stevedore Patrick, owned by
Asciano
, which has put an offer to employees that includes annual pay rises of 4 per cent plus another 1 per cent tied to meeting performance targets.

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Patrick said yesterday that it had received notification of further action by the MUA starting on Wednesday at its four container terminals.

It said the industrial action would run for seven days in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle, and Brisbane would be affected for six days. The action would take the form of bans and limitations that will stop the movement of about 50 per cent of Australia’s containerised trade, directly affecting 32 vessels and 35,000 shipping containers.

Patrick director Paul Garaty said: “The impact of the bans will render us inoperative, and our operations in our Brisbane, Melbourne, Fremantle and Sydney Terminals will grind to a halt.

“This will have a huge impact on Australian importers and exporters, hurting everyone from small businesses awaiting deliveries to Australian farmers exporting their goods to market, and the transport industry who are reliant on container trade to make a living.

MUA deputy national secretary
Mick Doleman
said last week that the union was “still frustrated at the lack of action by Patrick and look forward to a meaningful offer being put on the table".

On May 13, Fair Work Australia ordered an end to an alleged illegal “go slow" at Patrick’s East Swanson Dock in Melbourne after a sharp fall in container movements. The order applies for three months.